Trampling the Idiot Box Revolution #MondayMusings

There was a time in my childhood when I grappled seriously with the disease called TV. On off days and in holidays, me and my brother immediately after waking up in the morning used to switch on the TV first thing and would sit in front of it. This got followed by bomb shells exploding on us from another corner of the house. No, I did not live in a war zone. The bomb shells were actually my father’s stern reprimands which caused us shudders making us switch off the TV hastily and we would eagerly wait for him to leave for office.

In those days, I used to religiously watch all the Top 10 songs programmes as if those numbers were critically important, even more than the maths’ numerical and geometrical problems which made a tangential incline against my round head. At this, Papa would wonder and ask me what value addition I was creating for myself watching the same songs over and over again, albeit on different numbers and on different channels.

Then came the biggest thud without the sound effects. After all who were we, being the grief stricken meek innocents, to lend the sound effects to the event when the cablewallah was called to disconnect the cable connection at our parents’ behest? With tearless eyes, shut lips but pained hearts, we bid goodbye, forever, to the long cable wire which we were so used to see dangling from the street light pole in front of our house finding its way inside, all the way to our TV set. I was the first hand witness of the fading glorious days of our TV set because it never ever lighted up like the good old golden days.

Same was the case with husband’s home too but atleast his parents used to get the cable connection re-installed during the summer vacations.

Moving ahead in time. Year 2015-16.

Both set of parents have become old and grandparents. Getting old and retired from their respective jobs means they pass most of their time watching TV. My parents are obsessed about news – any news, same news, local news, national news, international news, news debates. My in-laws’ obsession lies with satsangs and bhagwad kathas (holy discourses by saints) during the day and daily soaps in the evenings. In the daily soaps, women rule the roost. They run the show, they are the ones scheming and conniving and they are also the Devi ones, the epitome of tolerance, sacrifice and goodness. Whereas in the satsangs, the holy gurus & the preachers can be seen and heard preaching to the ladies – ‘tumhare jeevan ka param kartavya apne pati aur saas-sasur ki sewa karna hai. Isi main tumhara udhaar hai’ (The primary duty of your existence is to serve your husband and his parents.) When these lines fell upon my ears, my first thoughts were – ‘so much for parity’. How ironic?

Dhruv and I have been living alone ever since husband left the Indian shores to work in UK in October. Living alone, I have the reins completely in my hand and I love it especially regulating the TV watching time at home. If I would have had a complete say, we would not have bought the TV in the first place when we were settling in Bangalore a year ago.

Living alone also results in loving and caring grandparents visiting and staying with us. First my parents visited us in December staying with us for 2 months and then came in-laws who stayed with us for 10 days. This led to the creation of TV revolution in Dhruv’s life on the same lines which he experiences on visiting their homes. This time the revolution was occurring on his home turf and it called for celebration.

This reminds me, this year the T20 cricket world cup is taking place in India and I am having the pleasure of not getting to watch it with husband missing from home.

Well. Yes okay, the TV revolution.

Thus, Dhruv became aware of the names of all the news channels (Hindi and English) and began rating the speakers in news debates – “Ye wala achha bol raha hai, wo wala bahut achha nahin bol raha hai” (This one is speaking well, that one is not speaking too well). In one news capsule, which for some/no reason ran for an hour, he saw a woman gave birth (not the actual process, though) in a train’s toilet and the new born baby slipped out on to the tracks. He was later found by the railway guards, miraculously hale and hearty. Watching this, the conversation followed –

Dhruv – Mummy, which train was I born in?

Me – You were born in a hospital and not in a train. Hospital is the place where babies are born.

Dhruv – Achha to kya jab main paida hua tha to koi news bani this kya? (Okay, did it become a news when I was born?)

When I told him his birth was a big news for us as family but not for the news channel. And then he wanted to know why not?

During those days, murders, rapes and scandals kept the idiot box blaring the entire day which stopped only with my intervention. The beauty about staying with one’s parents if you point out the discrepancies, they can see the different perspective. Therefore, both mummy and papa moved to their respective smartphones for their unlimited news updates. What happened next is going to be a matter for another post.

With in-laws, I found Dhruv improving his concentration skills since he was pressing his brains hard to assess and analyze who was the good girl in the serials and who was the bad one. The plot in one of the prime time serial revolved around a scary looking, absent mindedly laughing witch and how the the protagonist was fighting her out. This scared Dhruv terribly. He flipped the remote changing channels and accidentally discovered Doraemon, hitherto unknown to him. Now Nobita’s problem is same as Dhruv’s – homework, thus he became Dhruv’s best buddy. Doraemon, thereafter, hijacked the evening TV viewing slots leaving the serials’ audience anxious and waiting for the daytime to catch up on their shows with Dhruv away in school.

The grandparents have left now. With them, Dhruv learnt the art of changing channels by himself, another step forward in becoming self-reliant giving two-cents to my regulation.

On Saturday evening, I was waiting to watch a show on Nat Geo and the channel’s signal went off, bang on time. I gave a complaining sigh and he consoled me – “Never mind. If Nat Geo is not coming then we can watch Star Plus.” Staying positive, not losing hope and exploring alternatives are in his genes, passed on from me. My answer to his positive note was “It would be better to switch off the TV then to reach a point where we are forced to watch Star Plus serials.”

On Sunday, when all my efforts to get the TV shut up after hours of watching failed to create favourable results, the cable TV digital card was nabbed from the set top box and grounded. For the next 20 days, we are going to spend time without the idiot box.

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14 comments

Just today we were talking about how we can control M’s tv watching once she is old enough to watch it. She’s just 4 months old but I’m worried about her tv watching habits. So, I can understand the motivation behind this post of yours. But I guess every child ends up watching what he or she wants and parents keep worrying about what the children are watching . So, don’t worry too much 🙂

Ha ha! This is when they say live comes to full circle. 😛
Story in our house was different – Papa believed in concentrating and we never got cable connections cut. While Papa Mummy watched TV, my brother and I studied in the other room which the door in between shut. After dinner – 30 mins was TV time what ever comes. News or Soaps. 🙂 And it worked.

Hahaha.. so much drama around the TV. Its good, its bad, but cannot be ignored. As they grow and make more friends, they will hardly get time to be at home. So, let them be. But restrict the endless hours of watching.

Isnt dhruv the cutest? hahahaha kaunse train mein paida hua tha…hahaha
I havent watched TV much. As a child I couldnt mostly because my grandparents took over it. After school I couldnt because I shifted to college hostel which had no tv
I think a new revolution has started. Youtube everything revolution 😛

Lol!! Love Dhruv cute words, jab mein paida hua ta..news coverage. My Dad was telling me that TV will not make me pass exams. What days those were!! You know. I watch NDTV and few reality shows, though I hardly watch nowadays.
Guess, parents are like that. Coping without TV? Smiles!!

TeeVee!
When I was younger, I had this addiction to watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Oswald, and Noddy and Bob The Builder and..
Well, you get the idea that I was glued to the TV the moment my favourite cartoons were on.
However nowadays, I don’t really like watching TV. I can barely tolerate the news, and listen to music on the phone. And of course, all the TV shows are now available on YouTube and Netflix, so there’s no actual need of watching TV these days.
Unless those soaps actually look better on huge flat screens! :p

Oh dear! I make sure that when I visit my parents, they switch off the news. I can’t imagine how it can be so interesting to watch regurgitated stuff.
I’m glad you’re making good choices for Dhruv. My brother and his wife don’t have a cable connection – their kids, now 15 and 16, are allowed to watch movies on DVD during breaks and holidays. Of course, they do walk over to their grandparents and have a TV fest – but at least that’s not so often.

Anamika in a way life comes a full circle. But this parent angle is correct. I feel so too! They stopped us from watching TV all their lives and now here they are demanding the same rights we begged them long back 😀